Review: ‘Grace Potter and the Nocturnals – ‘This is Somewhere’’

A talent to watch, the 24-year-old Grace Potter leads her ace band through their excellent third album, "This is Somewhere."

A talent to watch, the 24-year-old Grace Potter leads her ace band through their excellent third album, “This is Somewhere.”

Playing piano and organ, Potter’s strong voice seems cut from the same cloth as Alison Moorer, and is heavily influenced by Bonnie Raitt. As a whole, the band’s sound has sharpened since their 2005 outing “Nothing but the Water.” The Nocturnals flirt with jam band sounds, but despite having Vermont as their home base, the band has less in common with Phish than they do with the frayed roots-rock of Lucinda Williams and Steve Earle. Offering a mix of styles, Potter looks inward on the spare, simple “You May See Me,” while the peppy “Mr. Columbus” wouldn’t sound too out-of-place on Top 40 radio and the epic gospel-inflected “Big White Gate” closes the album.